Does Lara have any religious views?

[Driber]

Originally Posted by The Hylden

I think he means the philosophy of Christianity, itself, which is turn the other cheek, love thy fellow man, even thine enemy, etc. Regardless of how leaders of the past have not lived by this, that doesn't change that this is what the faith preaches. No true priest, the Pope, etc., are going to advocate the violence and killing Lara dishes out

But in the context of the topic, his statement is still ironic, to say the least

There are (unfortunately) countless christians today who are violent and would do the exact same things as Lara. Even christian world leaders still kill in the name of christianity. It's not just a thing from the far forgotten past.

[Lyle Croft]

In TR5? i think she had the priest but she doesn't seem at all interested in religion so i'm really curious as to what she was, and currently is in this game.

[LadyRufina]

At the moment, new Lara seems very reluctant to believe in the supernatural; judging from the conversation between her and Dr. Whitman in the demo, so I'm guessing she might be quite atheist but she'll probably be open to the supernatural come the end of the game but I don't think she'll ever tie herself to any organised religion. It just wouldn't make sense to TR.

[Danielsun]

Originally Posted by Driber

Ahem....christianity has had an extremely violent history.

very true, to my knowledge the most peaceful religion is budhism, and then hinduism (i could be wrong though)

I personally don't believe Lara belongs to any particular religion. She has not displayed any tendancies or practices towards a religion and seems to believe what she see's with her own two eyes

[Ants_27_]

No, she can be Atheist like me.

[pomeranianpuppy]

Believing in God doesn't make people gullible i'm catholic but i'm sceptical about supernatural stuff, And why would a videogame display someones religion? Like shes gonna go around killing a t-rex than it shows her reading the bible?

[Tyrannosaurus]

Originally Posted by Danielsun

very true, to my knowledge the most peaceful religion is budhism, and then hinduism (i could be wrong though)

Just ignore all the horror that was skin flaying and human sacrifice before His Holiness the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Tibet.

Anyway, there are three Laras, not one, so I'll have to analyse each continuity separately.

I honestly don't know where some of you guys are getting this skeptical logical positivist Lara from. She never displays this sort of philosophy anywhere in Core's games. The only person who does is Von Croy, and he is quickly proven wrong. Lara is not even a scientist in any traditional sense; she is an adventurer, and too playful to be given to the more serious intellectual quandaries some of her contemporaries and colleagues are. She inhabits a universe where the supernatural not only clearly exists, but where she has personally dealt with it on numerous occasions. I just don't see how we could get an atheist or agnostic Lara out of these circumstances, even if she has no particular religious practice or affiliation.

Core's Lara, as has already been pointed out before, was friends with Father Patrick, which strongly implies that either her family or Winston's family is Catholic. If not, they may well be Anglicans, which are theologically close to Catholicism anyway. I strongly suspect Lara is at least nominally one of these. She has already recovered the Spear of Destiny in TR5, which was shown to have supernatural powers, which seems to confirm the existence of the Christian God among many forces at work in the TR universe.

In short, I think Core's Lara acknowledges the existence of God and/or a higher power, even if she doesn't personally pray to or worship it.

Now as for Crystal's Lara, it's another matter entirely. She may very well be a skeptic and nonbeliever. Eric Lindstrom had stated before that there was no true "magic" in his TR continuity; everything was unexplained technology that only appeared to be magical to the ancients. He was also said to eschew the AOD plot and decided not to continue with it--he didn't particularly understand it and felt it was too "mystical". Eric felt that TR was all about discovering the truth behind the myth. I disagree--TR is about that and the hunt for the artifact. Lara is after the thrill rather than the truth, which her original bio makes explicitly clear.

Of course, this all becomes a mite ridiculous when you begin to actually apply scientific reasoning to anything present in Crystal's trilogy. Nothing is made more believable simply because it's unexplained science or technology rather than magic--only less so. Fantasy is always superior to poorly-thought out science fiction. True science fiction is supposed to take place in our world, and follow through with the logical consequences of real or possible science rather than applying it as a post-hoc explanation for the desired plot device.

As for the new Lara . . . who knows? I don't Square Enix is much interested in the metaphysics of the TR universe, and like Crystal's trilogy, the series may suffer for it.

[220_Volts]

I don't think (and hope) she would be very religious.

[larafan25]

But if Core Lara were to believe in any Gods, based off of what we've seen in the games and her experiences, wouldn't those be the Egyptian Gods? Considering she released Set and entrapped him herself?

edit: BTW the leaked script presents reboot Lara as being a skeptic of many phenomenon.

[Wh1t3Kn1te]

im gonna respond to this in the least offensive way that i can, so if i say something offensive to you please dont take it personally it's not directed at you or your beliefs. thank you.

ok my view on this, i really dont think any company wants to alienate their fanbase by revealing what Lara believes in this regard. all you have to do is go to any news website and look at their comment section when they post a "religious" news story, whether its from Christianity, Muslim, Jews, etc. People have very strong beliefs, to the point that will argue till they are blue in the face, or worse, kill others, simply because they just can't accept that not everyone believes the same thing.

I don't think CD will ever show what Lara truly believes, and whether or not she's atheistic, agnostic, or a believer in any specific faith, but if they do i hope they are very respectful about it and do their homework. there are a lot of misconceptions out there about almost every religion and because of that its really easy to start a "holy war" nowadays.

that being said, with Lara only being 21 and yet to have a lot of experience im gonna say shes a skeptic right now, but she is interested in the origins of mankind and where we came from, because she IS an archeologist after all. im curious to see if they decide to go down this path with her or not.

[Tyrannosaurus]

Originally Posted by larafan25

But if Core Lara were to believe in any Gods, based off of what we've seen in the games and her experiences, wouldn't those be the Egyptian Gods? Considering she released Set and entrapped him herself?

Lara would have knowledge of their existence, so it wouldn't mean anything to say that she "believes" at that point. Similarly, she has knowledge of demons (remember the isle that she explored with the help of Father Patrick?), nephilim (half angle/human hybrids), and knowledge that the dagger of Xian, the Spear of Destiny, the Philosopher's Stone, and that many occult and psychic practices do in fact possess real power from real sources, some of which are apparently divine.

The TR universe becomes a pretty frightening place when you think about it.

edit: BTW the leaked script presents reboot Lara as being a skeptic of many phenomenon.

I think that's sort of lame, because there's only two real directions you can go with that:

1) The skeptic is proven wrong by a supernatural finding/experience which challenges his or her worldview

2) The skeptic proves everyone else wrong by debunking the supernatural element in the story using the power of science and rational thinking

And I think both are boring and predictable. But then again, who knows?

[just*raidin*tomb]

She yearns for truth and history...so I don't think she is religious per se... she doesn't worship any one thing, but instead takes the initiative to search for those answers herself.

From her experiences, there's just no way she would be religious. Spiritual, yes. Religious? No.

[larafan25]

^wHAT WOULD MAKE HER SPRITUAL?

Woops caps.

Originally Posted by Tyrannosaurus

Lara would have knowledge of their existence, so it wouldn't mean anything to say that she "believes" at that point. Similarly, she has knowledge of demons (remember the isle that she explored with the help of Father Patrick?), nephilim (half angle/human hybrids), and knowledge that the dagger of Xian, the Spear of Destiny, the Philosopher's Stone, and that many occult practices do in fact possess real power from real sources, some of which are divine.

That's true. Natla claimed to be a God in Tomb Raider Anniversary, though she could merely have had access to a wealth of advanced technology that made her seem God-like.

Who knows the origin of all the dark powers of the Tomb Raider universe. Though that is something to ponder.

The TR universe becomes a pretty frightening place when you think about it.

Most horrifying is that everyone's safety has been placed in the hands of Lara Croft on numerous occasions..

I think that's sort of lame, because there's only two real directions you can go with that:

1) The skeptic is proven wrong by a supernatural finding/experience which challenges his or her worldview

2) The skeptic proves everyone else wrong by debunking the supernatural element in the story using the power of science and rational thinking

And I think both are boring and predictable. But then again, who knows?

Well someone who isn't a skeptic might be less surprised upon discovering something fantastical, so that could be a downside. As well, CD may not pull out all the stops on supernatural aspects. There's plenty to be surprised by on this island besides the supernatural. In fact the mere discovery of the site being a lost kingdom is enchanting.

I guess it depends how far Lara's skepticism goes.

[JapaneseIsland]

I guess she'd be agnostic, or perhaps atheist? Not sure. Is there a term for someone who believes in various religions or something like that? Lara would be open minded to a lot of beliefs.

EDIT:
I agree with just*raidin*tomb and Larafan25.

[Tyrannosaurus]

Originally Posted by larafan25

Well someone who isn't a skeptic might be less surprised upon discovering something fantastical, so that could be a downside.

Except the audience goes in already accepting certain genre conventions anyway. If main character remains arbitrarily skeptical, it can become annoying and tedious when the audience already knows what sort of genre the story is.

I guess it depends how far Lara's skepticism goes.

Yes. The original Lara was pretty stoic; she took things as they came. Not that it was a bad thing. Whatever reactions she had were ours.

[just*raidin*tomb]

Originally Posted by larafan25

^wHAT WOULD MAKE HER SPRITUAL?

IDK MAYBE SHE'S IN TOUCH WITH NATURE AND HER INNER DEER AND SHET.

It's much more likely than her worshiping some god or gods.

[larafan25]

Originally Posted by just*raidin*tomb

IDK MAYBE SHE'S IN TOUCH WITH NATURE AND HER INNER DEER AND SHET.

Ahhhhh, I C. Deborah.

[Valenka]

La Cosa Nostra.

[just*raidin*tomb]

Originally Posted by larafan25

Ahhhhh, I C. Deborah.

yuss!Q1111

[BinRaider]

I don't think Lara is religious at all. But she obviously is unlikely going to be atheist seeing all these Gods or God-like objects. It's obvious that the new Lara is a sceptic so I won't say anything about her.

Using the family's priest, I just think that catholics/other Christians want Lara to be catholic because they are themselves but it seems unlikely that she is. I think it's common for aristocrats in Britain to have family priests but I it's more of a tradition than something they put into practice. For Richard Croft to be going around the world and discovering all these amazing artefacts from various religions and then to be a Catholic and bring Lara up into that is quite jarring and Lara never seemed interested in Catholicism in any aspect throughout the whole of the classics - why would she be conformed to this one religion when seeing all these other mythical objects from other religions? She'd have to be quite ignorant to believe that.

I don't think she has any particular belief. She just sees with her own two eyes.

[LARALOVERnr.1]

I don't think she is actually. Religion and Science just don't go that well together.

[XylophoneDealers]

Ooh I read an article which had a small bit about her religion. Must find.

EDIT: Umm well here is a small bit on it from Siliconera interview with Noah Hughes:

[Lara] is also highly-analytical—maybe to a fault. But she can’t yet be a tomb raider until she’s willing to open up her belief structure.

[220_Volts]

Originally Posted by BinRaider

I don't think Lara is religious at all. But she obviously is unlikely going to be atheist seeing all these Gods or God-like objects. It's obvious that the new Lara is a sceptic so I won't say anything about her.

Using the family's priest, I just think that catholics/other Christians want Lara to be catholic because they are themselves but it seems unlikely that she is. I think it's common for aristocrats in Britain to have family priests but I it's more of a tradition than something they put into practice. For Richard Croft to be going around the world and discovering all these amazing artefacts from various religions and then to be a Catholic and bring Lara up into that is quite jarring and Lara never seemed interested in Catholicism in any aspect throughout the whole of the classics - why would she be conformed to this one religion when seeing all these other mythical objects from other religions? She'd have to be quite ignorant to believe that.

I don't think she has any particular belief. She just sees with her own two eyes.

/thread.

[Lara_Fan_84]

Well, in Tomb Raider Underworld when you're in her home underground you do get to do a puzzle with angels and what looks like something like a church. I always found that interesting that she had her own church and for some reason it was buried under neath her home.

[Tyrannosaurus]

Originally Posted by BinRaider

Using the family's priest, I just think that catholics/other Christians want Lara to be catholic because they are themselves but it seems unlikely that she is.

Or perhaps because TR5 implies that Lara's friends and family are at least nominally Catholic? Why don't we just say that atheists and agnostics want Lara to be as such because they are themselves and can't really relate? I'm just going by what's presented in the games, not the perceived biases of other fans.

I think it's common for aristocrats in Britain to have family priests but I it's more of a tradition than something they put into practice. For Richard Croft to be going around the world and discovering all these amazing artefacts from various religions and then to be a Catholic and bring Lara up into that is quite jarring

Because there aren't any Catholic archaeologists, historians, or anthropologists? Um . . . actually, there are. Some of them are priests, too.

and Lara never seemed interested in Catholicism in any aspect throughout the whole of the classics - why would she be conformed to this one religion when seeing all these other mythical objects from other religions? She'd have to be quite ignorant to believe that.

I don't think she has any particular belief. She just sees with her own two eyes.

Ignorant, or just observant. In TR5, the Spear of Destiny was shown to have real power. FYI, the spear of destiny was said to be the lance that pierced Jesus's side at the crucifixion. Why would it have power? Because the Christian God is apparently a real presence among many in the continuity of the Core's series.

Belief in such a deity wouldn't be based on ignorance in this case, but observation with one's own two eyes.